"Quake Champions: Doom Edition" is a mod developed by DBThanatos and Michaelis, bringing Quake-Champions weapons sounds and functionality into Doom (along with QC inspired weapon sprites), along with over 10 playable classes, some from Quake Champions, some from other games, and some completely new: all with their own active and passive abilities."

I expected, like many, Rapha to take the crown but having the young blood win over the old makes the next tournament more interesting than if the expected players won and it also gives hope to new players.

It's also interesting from a game balance point of view. Aggressive style play currently seems to be better than a methodical map control Quake Live approach.

That raises interesting thoughts on how do you balance across the various play styles. How do you make it so each play style has an even chance?

Opinion: One test that comes to mind, based on these results, is increasing the respawn times on the health bubbles so that it's as easy for weak enemies to restore health before the next encounter.

Next cypher wasn't able to make it so he's a wild card at this point. It puts a lot of pressure on him in the next tournament but it will make for great spectator entertainment.

Can't wait to see what happens over the next year.

Troll away, but I'm much more interested in hearing other opinions on what they liked about this tournament.

I've paid my dues
Time after time.
I've done my sentence
But committed no crime.
And bad mistakes
I've made a few.
I've had my share of sand kicked in my face
But I've come through.

(And I need just go on and on, and on, and on)

We are the champions, my friends,
And we'll keep on fighting 'til the end.
We are the champions.
We are the champions.
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions of the world.

I've taken my bows
And my curtain calls.
You brought me fame and fortune, and everything that goes with it.
I thank you all.
But it's been no bed of roses,
No pleasure cruise.
I consider it a challenge before the whole human race,
And I ain't gonna lose.

(And I need just go on and on, and on, and on)

We are the champions, my friends,
And we'll keep on fighting 'til the end.
We are the champions.
We are the champions.
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions of the world.

We are the champions, my friends,
And we'll keep on fighting 'til the end.
We are the champions.
We are the champions.
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions.
Of the world

Note: I'm defining second generation as the generation that mainly joined in during/after Halo/COD came to be. The first generation would be Doom to Quake 3.

It's because of this second generation that it's so hard to introduce a game like Quake or even Unreal Tournament. It doesn't fit the mold they expect and so the game is broken. The movement system is too complex, the starting "loadouts" are too weak, I get dominated... they must be cheating.

Not every game should be designed so every player wins 50% of the time so they don't feel too bad about themselves.

It's this concept of trying to match people up so they win 50% of the time has kinda killed games for me. I'm from a time when if you wanted to get better you'd play against the players that dominated you. You'd play them again and again and you'd get better.

Now if I play a competitive mode of a game I can't play against players much better than me... so learning takes longer. It's an exhausting grind of very meaningless rewards.

So here it is... Second Generation you need to learn to tough it out. I'm sorry games of the past decade have held the hands of players and even worse designed their games to give everyone a "fair chance"... so much of a "fair chance" that it dilutes the challenge of the game

If you want to make your multiplayer shooter more accessible no matter how complicated the movement and weapon system becomes there's one metric that makes the most newb of the newbs feel productive... simply lower the TTK. As long as player A can see player B sooner once and a while they'll win the shoot out.

Then there's an alternative to this concept. High TTKs with tons of rewards, medals, skins and micro strategic decisions made over a long period.

These are two approaches to making a high skill ceiling SPORT accessible to people sitting on their couches.

Imagine if Tennis went from a group of highly skilled players to something millions of people played from their couch...

Was reading this article on IGN Why Quake Champions Is the Evolution of the Arena Shooter but the truth is most of the concepts you see in these new cutting edge games, that are breaking the mold, where done over a decade ago. It's just now the mainstream are ready for them. All these Steam games where called mods when I was a kid.

Lets not forget CPMA had a mode called Not Team Fortress which is the predecessor to Quake Champions. I actually suggested on the QuakeLive forms years ago that they add NTF since it'd probably appeal to more casual gamers. So I'm excited to see QC is essentially it's spiritual successor.

Not hating against any modern games I just wish journalist knew their gaming history, but then again it's not easy to know of every mod ever made.

If you never played CPMA NTF I suggest you check it out with some friends.

1. Bunny Hopping - It works very much like the QuakeWorld bunny hopping. You just need to use the slide mechanic + QW bunny hopping.2. Hand Grenades - One mechanic that was really great about Quake 2, but was left out of Quake 3, was hand grenades.... Titanfall 2 has them working in all their glory. 3. Double Jumps - Very much in the vain of Unreal Tournament. 4. Rocket Launchers - It actually has rocket and grenade launchers + Star Wars sound effects. 5. Duel - There is a duel mode very similar to that found in CPMA duel arena. Two players with basically a rocket launcher, rail gun and hand grenades match up in a circular arena.6. Grapple Hook - I remember playing (on Heat.net) Rocket Arena 2 with just Railgun, Hand Grenades and Grapple Hook... it was a blast. 7. Titans - well and there's titans...

P.S. I don't care if you play it or not. Just appreciating the old school aspects of the game.

I just got around to playing Wolfenstein: the New Order and wow this game is awesome. Of course we'd love to see a revival of the great multiplayer RTCW had but I much rather have them exclude it rather than half ass it like they did in the 2009 game.

The gameplay feels great, you actually want to watch the cut scenes and it's the best Nazi killing experience yet.

EA announces a competitive gaming division for esports based around EA titles such as FIFA, Madden NFL, and Battlefield.

"Competition runs deep in the DNA of Electronic Arts, and our games are already at the center of competitive gaming events at different levels today. FIFA fans around the world continue to compete in the FIFA Interactive World Cup, ESL One is hosting worldwide championships with Battlefield 4, we recently announced the return of the Madden NFL Live Challenge, and our games will be played in dozens of other regional competitions around the world in the next year. EA’s CGD will seek to build a best-in-class program to centralize our efforts with new events, as well as the infrastructure to bring you the world’s preeminent EA competitive experiences."

At the time the game came out I was such a Quake fanboy that I despised any games that tried to make FPS games more "real"... I ended up not really giving the game much love until Enemy Territory was realeased 2 years later. I've just recently been going back through the singleplayer again and that's what sparked this journal entry.

I have to say the game still holds up and I think you could argue that it set the template for the modern shooter much like how Wolfenstein 3d set the template for 90s shooters. It packaged a great story driven singleplayer, fantastic multiplayer modes and it even included co-op with ZOMBIES... and this was nearly 15 years ago.

Next year will be it's 15th anniversary. An HD release would be amazing! I'd love to Return to Return to Castle Wolfenstein and I don't think I'm alone.

I celebration of Playstation's 20th Birthday I played some Quake 2 on the old machine. At first I thought it was going to be a complete mess as I couldn't figure out how to get the controls anywhere near today's standard format. Tip: If you're going to play this game... use an analog controller and choose "right stick". It's still not perfect but close enough. Also turn off auto center... it's like auto aim, except it just always aims straight ahead, which will usually just mess you up.

I had this game back in the day but I really didn't give the multiplayer the time-of-day since at the time I was busying playing the real deal on PC. I would love to play this multiplayer now... id release this on modern consoles ok?

I was just watching a documentary on unreal which sparked a memory of when I saw the rag doll effects in UT2k3 for the first time. It was pretty asonashing at the time. What engine demos do you remember the most?

I thought of the CPMA NTF (Not Team Fortress) mode today. Which I forgot all about. It'd be cool if they could make it a Quake LIVE mode... use it to promote QL again. Do something to promote QL id :) kthx

10-15 years ago (sheesh) I despised Counter Strike. Quake was king of multiplayer FPS gaming in my mind and you couldn't convince me otherwise. Even other id titles like RTCW were blasphemy.

Since then things have changed quiet a bit, with consoles taking over as the dominate force in online gaming.

I recently got CS:GO for $3.75 during a black Friday steam special... can't really pass up that deal. After playing it for a few days, I find myself as a veteran Quake junkie who despised the CS franchise now having respect for the game.

Both Quake and CS are, to my knowledge, the longest running competitive shooters. Who never really stopped having respectable titles (of course CS more so than Quake... DAMN you CS!) and I think that say something. When many games that these days have a very short life cycle, these titles still live on and have had an impact on virtually every multiplayer FPS since.

I can now look at Counter Strike as more of a old friend and counterpart rather than the enemy. Playing CS:GO is a nice mix of a classic shooter experience put in a more modern package. I find it way more enjoyable than playing another CoD title (I got sick of those after MW2... CoD4 was the best imo).

Long live the grandfathers of deathmatch (Quake) and tactical shooters(CS)!

I hate when I meet someone new and you're having small talk and they ask if your into video games. Sometimes I just answer this question with a no because I know their going to go on about the newest Call of Duty. Don't ge tme wrong I've spent some serious time playing CoD games but I stopped about 4 titles ago. Then they want to talk about GTA or some other tripple A title I could care less about.

If your a fan of Doom, and the chances are good if you're reading ESR, then this video will be a nice trip down memory lane. John Romero and Tom Hall both talk about their time developing the now classic Doom. In this video you'll hear from their personal experiences and see Alpha versions of the game throughout its development.

So there has been some talk lately about Duke Nukem Forever being released next year. I don't mind them working on a new Duke Nukem game, but they shouldn't use the Duke Nukem Forever name. I think it will serve us all better as a myth/joke. There's no way it will ever live up to the name.

I've been involved in the Quake scene since 1998 and since then there's was always talk about how Quake is dead/dieing. I played a lot of Quake 2 from 2000-2003 and we thought the scene was dead then, there's still a scene 7-10 years later and it's smaller than what it was when I was playing so it really makes me look back and wish I just enjoyed it more instead of worrying about how it was dead.

Quake is as dead as you want it to be. Right now QuakeLIVE is far from dead considering the number of tournaments just this summer alone. If you want a scene to do better, run a tournament. If you're not playing or taking the game serious because you think it's dead, you'll only be sorry years later when you realize it wasn't dead at all.

Stop complaining and do something. The scene lives on because of people who run tournaments, write stories, make videos, design maps, do podcasts(special thanks to Ready Up Radio). Get off your ass and do something!

While in Dallas, we drop by id Software where Tim Willits takes us on a tour of the historic company, and shows off the plethora of memorabilia and awards (including a real Emmy) from one of gaming's most successful developers. - 1up.com

1. QuakeLive Duel = Chess
"Duel is literally almost all straight spam. A 200/200 can be completely neutralized by a moron hopping away spamming rockets."

2. Wipe out LG from CA, and grenade color
"It really ruins the game when you stumble upon 3 noobs and all of them fire at you with LG. No skill needed. Yo could introduce chaingun or nailgun instead."

3. Tweak the rail gun
"The rail gun now is 20% less powerful, so logically it should reload 20% faster, and it should be 20% less audible (radius). If anything like this was already implemented, then my bad, but I don't think it was."

4. cheating rampant in high tier ca
"I see on a daily basis people that make rapha look like a noob, and I'm just basing it on the countless tournament videos I've watched"

5. What are clans for?
"Wondering why there is no sticky thread explaining what people get by joining a clan?"

What Qualifies?

Posts that complain instead of providing constructive criticism.
Posts that ask for features that completely change the entire game (request mod please).
Posts that waste everyones time.
Rage Posts.

We want to honor the dream that was CPL, not the entity, and build something on the foundation fifteen years of electronic sporting has left for us. Something that will endure thanks to the quality of its fans, not the pockets of some sponsor. Something that will entertain and inspire, and have meaning to its members and fans and spectators. Something worthy of those nostalgic memories of stuffy Hilton basements, something that will make stand up and shout, "Man, this is what got me excited about esports!"

Furious heights - lots of great angles and medium range fights.The House of Decay - fast pace. (CPMish)Almost Lost - slow pace - this map doesn't get much love but it's offers a playstyle that's not on many other maps(Q2ish) and the balance isn't bad.Aerowalk - fast pace - not my favorite but people seem to love it.Bloodrun - great test of a players ability to control a map.

It was a toss up for bloodrun vs campgrounds for the last map. I think the final map should be one of those two since it's almost guaranteed to be a close final map.

When choosing the maps I think it's best to offer a selection of different playstyles so that the map pool doesn't favor a single style. I also think it's a good idea to start it off on a well played map so the first game is intense then end it on a even more known map so the last battle is a close one.

Lets talk vision, dreams and wishes. Whats your vision for CHTV right now and where do you see it in 5-10 years?

My vision is for CHTV to continue hosting Quakeworld and CPMa demos but also many other game demos, even consoles. To convert a lot of the classic demos into videos so that these great games and players are never forgotten. To have a site that navigates well, where everything you want is right there at the push of a button and to get all of my ideas coded into the site.

[i]"A trio of Google engineers have ported id Software's gib-filled first-person shooter Quake II to browsers— you know, for kicks—as a way to show just what HTML5 compatible web browsers are capable of."

In the latest addition of gameinformer there is an article, written by Nick Ahrens, on the top 10 first person shooter multiplayer maps. I can live with some of his choices but obviously this writer didn't do his homework. My first issue with this list has to be his 10th choice; Tokay's Tower of Quake 2. If you're going to choose any map from Quake 2 it would obviously be The Edge. The second thing that bothered me about this list is that was the only true deathmatch map chosen, not a single Unreal Tournament map. Third, this writer obviously favored the Battlefield series seeing as there were 3 different maps from the BF series.

All games can be described as involving the manipulation of game pieces in a game space. The pieces are defined as all of those things which the players have direct control over; the player’s avatar and weapons in an FPS, the pieces on one side in chess, or the player’s own body and any extensions of it, such as a racket or stick, in a physical game. The game space consists of the place in which the pieces exist and are allowed to move, and all those things within it which are not under the sole, direct control of any player, such as armour and health pickups in an FPS or the ball in any number of physical games.

I'm in no way affiliated with this website but I thought this was an ESReality worthy article.

So I got my copy of Street Fighter 4 the day it came out and haven't taken it out of my xbox yet. I will always be a Quake player at heart but I think SF4 came out a good time and has potential to be a big esports game.

Do you think Street Fighter 4 will be picked up by tournaments as a big esports title and/or do you think professional gaming teams will add it to their roster as well?

With a ton of Pro Gaming leagues in existence now all fighting to be the one. On the other hand you have gamers not being respected (or paid) the way they should be. You have the big companies making their profit. What needs to happen?

A) The leagues unite and work together for a better good.

B) A non-profit forms and attempts to organize it all.

C) The teams who are on top work together to take control of it all and lead the way.

D) Gamers all around work together on a single website to speak their minds and inspire others to make the next steps.

Hey I just wanted to take a moment to pass on an idea. There is already a ton of content on the web about Quake 3; trick jump videos, demos, cfg tweaks, interviews, etc. I think with the release of quake live coming soon it's a good oportunity for people to relaunch or create new websites that showcase some of that great content... recycle it for quakelive. Why reinvent the wheel.

I could do without the giant classmates.com ads and ads about new emoticons with sound or compare auto insurance quotes. I don't mind ads but these are terrible, they don't even relate to this site at all.

Being known as a computer guru is something I try to keep a secret when I meet someone new, but it always comes up at some point. I'm sure many of you have the same problem. You are known by your friends and family as the "computer guy" and are always being asked about PC problems and spending your time removing toolbars from their browser (IE usually).

What techniques do you use to remedy these issues?

For viruses I now use AVG, was recently using avast.

For Spyware It's a toss up between the free edition of spyware doctor(from google) or Spybot Search and Destroy. If neither of those work then I pull out the Ad-Aware.

I'm my last journal entry I spoke about how I haven't had that same feeling, I had back in the day, with gaming anymore. I do feel a need for a little escape from reality lately (and I know drugs aren't the answer) so I picked up Battlefield 2 today because of the $10 price drop. I did find the demo pretty enjoyable when it came out but I couldn't justify spending $50 on it when it came out. When I get home from work tonight (2:30am) I'll pop it in and try it out.

I don't expect to get very serious with it but that's why I chose bf2 because I know it seems like a good pickup game. A game where you don't need to think about making a name for yourself. Just play for 20mins, get some frags and call it a night.

can any experienced BF2 players give me any heads up on what I'm getting myself into?

I use to be one of those guys who was so passionate about online gaming. I'd spend as much freetime as I could playing. I started a clan, I ran tournaments, I played in tournaments, I wrote articles, I watched gaming movies, helped make movies, I made a lot of friends from it... but it all has to come to an end sometime.

Now I can't even bring myself to play a game. It just doesnt fulfill me like it use to. I still chat with guys from my old clan but we don't talk about gaming very much anymore. I'm 23 I work fulltime and take classes. There was a time when I thought I'd be online gaming for ever but times change... the games change... and it's just not the same anymore. My goldenage of gaming is over, for a long time I thought a new game could come out to bring back that feeling, but it never happend. Doom 3, Quake 4, Half Life 2, Painkiller, Unreal Tournament 2004... and more all came out and never brought that feeling back.

It's hard to beleive it will be a year, in july, since I've played an online game. I don't even have the internet at my place. Lately I've been under a lot of stress and I been dieing to play a game of quake. It really is a great stress releaver and it's a great way to get away from your everyday thoughts. I'm moving next week and when I do I'm definitly getting the internet hooked up right away.

I started online gaming with Quake 2 right before Quake 3 was released. I was such into Quake 2 that I really didn't enjoy the gameplay in Quake 3. It seemed like an upgrade in graphics but a downgrade in gameplay. I'm not here to debate which game is better because since then I have gained respect for Quake 3.

Since then I was anticipating the arival of Quake 4, never really sure when it would come out. Years passed and there was still no Quake 4, Between my time of my Quake 2 addiction and the Quake 4 release I gave dozens of games a try and had my share of fun with those games, but at heart I've always been a quake player.

Quake 4 has finally been released and it couldn't of been a much worse time. I graduated from a 2 year college in 2003. I decided to go back to college this year. Now I'm starting my first year at WVU and I'm super poor and I haven't played an online game since july. My priories now are; school work, parties and girls.

It's so weird how you can quickly change... one minute I would do anything to play Quake 4 and now I just don't have the motivation to even save up $60 and buy it and even if I did buy it would it even be able to fulfill my expectations?

Right now I have 1 hour of work left then I'm done working here. I have been the IT Manager at this small company for two years (in september). But today is my last day and tomorrow I'm moving off to attend college for another degree.

Lastnight some of us got to watch the First Annual VSports All Stars
Games via a live video stream hosted by the popular shoutcasters at
Radio iTG.

In Painkiller we got to see...
vo0 vs. Gellehsak
Daler vs. zyz

In Quake 3 it was...
Zero4 vs. czm
Zero4 vs. Fox

The games were very impressive to watch and full of tactical and heated battles.

The video stream was very clear and the shoutcasting was superb as
usual. The great thing about the use of streaming video is that
players who do not have the games can get to see matches they usually
are not exposed to. I find it that a lot of the time gamers are only
aware of the game they play. This really opens up competitive gaming
to a much broader audience. It may also get people who don't play
competitively to check out what it's all about and possible persuade
them to purchase the game.

I really have to say I am impressed with the VSports All-Stars Setup
so far and I really hope that GGL and Radio iTG continue to push
competitive gaming in the direction they are taking it.

For those of you who missed the action last night make sure to check it
out today. For more information head over to the Radio iTG page:http://radioitg.com

Quake 2 - This was my first time playing a FPS online or with a mouse and it will always hold a special place.

Jedi Knight II - I have always been a star wars fan and this game provided the best star wars experience I ever had. The Lightsaber duels were the bomb.

BF1942 - When I heard the scale of this game I had to check it out for myself. I downloaded the multiplayer demo and boy that demo sucked up many hours of my life. The freedom of your role was so great.

CPM - I was messing with this mod for a while but then I heard a big tdm tournament (WANsanity) was coming up. So I got my q2 clan and switched it to CPM and began to have the most fun (competitivly) I ever had.

ET - I heard there was a FREE stand alone multiplayer RTCW expansion and I got it right away. This game was the most solid "out of the box?" multiplayer game to date.

Is it just me or have we been at a halt in gameplay development the past 5 years?

Game developers are so focused on the look of the games that they haven't spent much time on the actual gameplay. I guess the publishers are partly to blame. Because the pressure they put on the developers; meet xx/xx/xxxx deadline, game must look better than any other game, game must be super hyped...

But what ends up happening?...
Due to all the pressure we end up with games that aren't finished, have more looks than gameplay and we end up going back and just playing our old favorites (games that actually have gameplay > graphics) or just quit gaming all together.

Since we aren't buying or playing these newer Shooter games then game publishers are going to look at what is selling (counter strike, rts) and make more of those instead of backing Deathmatch games.

I have nothing against the push of graphic accomplishments. But when things like this hold back on the most important part of games (the gameplay!) it's disapointing.

Graphics sell copies of a game the first few months it is out... but gameplay sells games for years and years (Tetris for example).

I'm sure the doom 3 engine looks great but we won't really appreciate that for another year or two when most gamers can play it at 100fps and higher quality.

Sure Quake 3 didn't run that great on many pcs at first but no one cared about that because it had gameplay. Eventually most gamers were able to run it at a nice quality and high frame rates... but the gameplay always overshadowed that.

So I got the urge to play mortal combat this week (mainly 1 and/or 2). This game was probably the first video game that I can remember playing competitivly. Before I played mortal combat it was just like Mario Brothers and stuff. Where it was just for entertainment.

When Mortal Combat came out and I got a sega it became more about me vs my friends. I didn't have an arcade near by so consoles were it.

I wish video games still gave me that same feeling but I think I'm to mature now.

I got my Dell DJ over the weekend. I have a few friends that own ipods and I decided to try something different and it being about $100 cheaper doesn't hurt. So far the differences between the two players are very minuscule. Transferring my 10gigs of mp3s to the player took a few hours since I only have USB 1.1 (I'm thinking about picking up a USB 2.0 card soon).

Overall I'm very satisfied with my choice to go with the Dell DJ and the addition of a fm transmitter makes it really nice when listening to it in my car or through my living room stereo system.

Lately I have been spending a lot of time finding new bands to listen to. I'll have a dell dj this weekend and I'm working on filling up all 20 gigs. If you have any sugestions on bands I should check out please don't hesitate.

Few of the bands I like (randomly off the top of my head)
The Pixies
Foo Fighers
David Bowie
Rolling Stones
Iggy and the stooges
Rise Against
Weezer
The Ramones
Nirvana
Tool
The White Stripes
Screeching Weasel
Green Day

Lastnight I spent about two hours researching (shared) web hosts trying to find the pefect one. It has to be one of the most flooded markets. If anyone has any good suggestions for good cheap hosting please give me a shout.

So it's friday... about 2:25 here at work and I haven't done anything for a few hours... I just want to leave and enjoy the weekend. I have 2 hours left and the weekend starts yeehaw! Just got to find something to do so that it seems like I have been working hard ;P.